Spring 14 FOX boardshort underwent an overall makeover. Everything from fit to fly closure, to stitch and trim details. I was also an addition to the FOX program brought on at the end of Spring 14 development, my first full season will be Summer 14.

What inspired these changes?

We needed to create a line that reflects the diversity and performance of our athletes. We have Ian Walsh charging 50 ft waves, Chippa punting 50 ft airs and Bruce doing both. It’s the perfect lineup to design into, Ian heading up the performance boardshorts, Bruce heading up the core customer, and Chippa holding down the fashion forward group.

How do you breakdown the categories in your boardshort line? Has this changed at all?

It is pretty much broken up into three categories: Core, Performance, and Fashion Forward. But this is just a generalization with many styles overlapping the different groups. Prior seasons we were primarily focused around our core customer and performance based boardshorts.

How much of your line can be described as "technical", "classic", and "hybrid"?

Which of those "categories" are doing the best for you? We have a good mix and something for everybody. In the past our more moto driven core boardshorts have have done the best but recent numbers show our customer swinging a bit more towards the fashion forward designs.Are you seeing major growth in the demand for hybrid boardshorts? Yes, and with some new fabrics we are introducing its only going to keep growing.

On the technical end, what innovations are you bringing to market and what makes these stand out?

Our new fly construction is a solid innovation and one that can be shared across all price points. We have also brought weld details to lower price points and some interesting tech features directly from moto pants.

Are your prices trending up, down, or staying flat?

There is definitely a cost to making elevated & innovative product, which our customer has no problem paying for. Knowing that, we always aim toward presenting value in every price point with multiple styles.

What color stories are you going to be hitting on?

There are some unique color combos of brights and neutrals shared on multiple styles. Camo the color, not the pattern has a strong showing as well.

Where did you find your inspiration for next year's line?

At the beach, surfing, snowboarding, the internet, everywhere and everything, but most importantly the people that work in the Fox design department.Our wide variety of athletes, Surf and Wake, also play a huge role in the inspiration process. Its cool designing into a certain athletes attitude or personality, and we have some real characters on our team. MX has also been a huge inspiration from graphics to tech features, our Moto technology is next level.

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We engineer a new fly closure eliminating velcro and lycra gusset. We have also added multiple 19″ & 20″ inch outseam styles. We also used some tech elements directrly from the MX pant and incorporated them into boardshorts.

Will there be any changes in delivery dates?

We have added an additional summer delivery date.

Hybrid, tech, and retro have been the big trends for the last couple seasons – what do you predict will sweep the scene next?

I think the line between fashion and function will be very blurred aided by new fabric advancements for both boardshorts and hydros. I also see more dynamic prints and graphics making a resurgence, moving away from the horizontal stripe and simple color blocking that is flooding the board short market.

Anything else you'd like to hit on?

Look for Spring ’14 to be the start of a big transformation for Fox boardshorts.